I heart Australian Antarctic Territory stamps

Within my stamp collection my stamps from the Australian Antarctic Territory are particularly treasured. This is why I have used some of the AAT stamps for the background image of this blog (notice what I did there.. AAT: that is the stamp-nerd acronym for Australian Antarctic Territory) . This week I thought I would properly share with you the stamps that so tantalisingly peek out around the edges of my blog.

$1 - Parahelion "Mock Sun".
(I have never heard the word Parahelion before, but I like it. I will try to drop it into everyday conversation soon.)

I generally love AAT stamps because they feature beautiful icy landscapes and cute penguins. But this particular set is about my favourite set of stamps EVER. I just love the fluoro orange that features on them.

Doesn't this helicopter look like it has come straight off a James Bond set?

I love the romanticism of Antarctica - the deserts of ice rather than sand that are so inhibiting yet exhilarating. A frontier if ever there was one. I have always wanted to travel there. And this set of 1966 stamps makes me want to go there even more.

I bought an incomplete set at the end of last year from "Rusty's" in Rosedale while there on a fieldtrip for work. Rusty told me that the higher value stamps were harder to come by. I loved them immediately so I bought the incomplete set. But thanks once again to Grandma Nellie's collection, I now have the full set. Not only that, but Grandma had kept the original packaging.

The series of stamps is highlighting Australian scientific research in Antarctica and the brochure that goes with the stamps tells me that:

• Antarctica was first circumnavigated by James Cook in 1772-5
• The first Australian Expedition was that of Mawson in 1911-14
• Australian scientists on Antarctica are involved in meteorology, cosmic rays (! More James Bond?), auroral displays, seismology, biology and geomagnetism. I don't know what geomagnetism is, but it sounds sexy.

Not only that, but the brochure gives a proper definition of what  a parahelion is:

"an antarctic mirage seen when microscopic ice crystals in the air reflect back the real sun and ghostly counterparts of it, ranged round the horizon and connected by bands of light."

I think I just found another reason to want to go to Antarctica.

As it turns out, when you used to buy philatelic material from the Australian Post Office in the 60s, not only did you get a brochure telling you all these cool facts - you also received a gorgeous little greeting card to match the stamp issue. And, oh how I am loving the ephemera! And on that note, just to prove once and for all that my collection is getting a little out of hand, last week I bought the following book - just because the illustrations were cool and it kind of matched my stamp collection:

1960 edition. This is the back cover - but I just love the orange snow-vehicle.

So. AAT stamps. Absolutely my favourite. Thanks for letting me show them off.

1c - Aurora and Camera Dome; 2c Banding Penguins.

I heart post

I heart post is going to be my blog about my stamp collection. But my intentions are for it to be a blog about stamps. Not a blog about stamp collecting. Although the two concepts are of course related. This blog is going to be about so much more than just stamps.


I am not really interested in collecting in the sense of having a complete catalogue of every Australian stamp issued since the introduction of the metric system up until the present (for instance). Blah. Totally boring. Who can be that particular that they must have EVERY stamp? And who wants to bother with the ugly ones? And there are some completely hideous stamps out there. Stamps of footballers (bleaugh!) are my least favourite. Followed closely by stamps of cutesy cartoon characters and boring red roses (puke). I, for one, am not interested in ugly stamps.

Beautiful stamps!

So my own stamp collection is all about beautiful stamps. Beautiful images. Beautiful design. And interesting history. The history is the clincher - I love that stamps are so often commemorative. And therefore this blog is not just going to be about stamps: it will be about design, art and history. All these big fascinating things are rolled up into the small, humble postage stamp! Who knew?

Probably everyone had a stamp collection when they were five. I did. But I am guessing not everyone had a stamp collection when they were 23. I did. (And, yep, I was also the Secretary of the Dead Languages Society at University. Who knows why I didn't have a boyfriend for all those years?)

I even like stamps featuring Lizzy!

Anyhow, I still maintain that stamps are absolutely awesome. And I am hoping, dear reader, that after a few entries* you will also be convinced of their said awesomeness.

But why "I heart post" and not "I heart stamps"? Three reasons:

1. This is NOT A BLOG ABOUT UGLY STAMP CRAFTING.
2. I heart all sorts of stamp related paraphernalia. I heart postcards. I heart letters. I even heart aerograms, although I think I may have only received one in my entire life (it was from my Grandma Nellie).
3. My gorgeous 8 year old cousin Madeleine loves post (Madeleine, by-the-by, is still at an age where it is socially acceptable to have a stamp collection; let's face it, she, and recently retired semi-professional Grandpa's are probably the primary demographic for Australia Post's philatelic department - let's try and buck that stereotype). After visiting Madeleine recently, upon saying goodbye, she asked "Cousin Helen, could you please send me some post please. I love post".

Well Maddy, I love post too.

*please come back for more of my ramblings.